Even in its early stages, we’ve come to the conclusion that Windows 10 is a far better deal for desktops than Windows 8. But how exactly does the new operating system stand against the very well-built Windows 7? Even though Microsoft is offering a free upgrade to the new OS if you are using Windows 7, should you take advantage of the deal and upgrade to it or not? In this guide we plan to show you who wins in the battle of Windows 10 vs Windows 7.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – Performance

One of the least discussed improvements brought by Windows 8 (and Windows 10) is its upgrade in terms of performance. The boot time in Windows 8 is significantly quicker than that of Windows 7. However, there are numerous other improvements such as hardware acceleration and even navigation seems a little faster in it. The power management has also been improved in Windows 8 which means that you will get more battery life out of your laptop.

Gaming performance is more evenly matched in Windows 8 and with Windows 10 we will also get access to DirectX 12. The new DirectX promises to unlock even more performance from all existing hardware.

It may not seem like a big deal, but essentially, the main reason we upgrade our operating systems is because we want better performance out of our machines. So because Windows 10 offers improvements in that area along all its other numerous features is more reason to be excited about it.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – Design

Windows 8’s design was quite a departure from what we were used to, with its bold colors and flat windows replacing the round-edged, transparent windows and 3D icons in the Windows 7. Windows 10 will continue to change the design of the operating system. The bold and flat style now takes over the icons on the desktop and other core features of the new OS. However, we’ve seen that some of the old design is still present in Windows 10, like the old icons in Control Panel.

We’re not really convinced whether the new design will be better or not but it’s definitely more “modern”. It seems that the new trend of design somehow revolves around flat objects. Apple is doing it and so are different websites. However, we’re not very sure whether or not this is in fact more pleasing in terms of aesthetics.

That being said, there are some benefits from using this kind of design. One of the main advantages is that windows take less space because they aren’t as rounded anymore and pretty much lack borders. They’re also more customizable and some aspects are a lot clearer because of the absence of transparent backgrounds.

Microsoft still has time to change its mind (for the better, we hope), however, as Windows 10 is still in the preview stage.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – Search

Windows 7 has a relatively powerful search feature that will quickly give results regarding documents and programs you search for. However, Windows 10 improves on this feature by adding a search for the apps in Windows Store and the web and a much more organized and improved page of results.

When you click on the search box in Windows 10 you will also receive information about the latest news headlines, weather reports and updates from your preferred sports team.

In addition to this, the new search function will also make use of Cortana, which is Microsoft’s digital personal assistant. This will add two main features into play. The first thing is that Cortana will monitor your calendar and email to give out relevant results, like when you have to leave to make it to your next appointment.

The other thing is that if you have equipped your computer with a microphone you will be able to give Cortana commands via voice. The digital personal assistant really does a great job understanding what you say and gives you appropriate search results. However, Cortana doesn’t give you the answer right in the search box, but opens a browser window to do so. But it is still a pretty cool thing to search for stuff without having to use your hands to type in what you want.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – File management

While this may seem trivial at first, the fact is that the tools you use to find and manage the files in your computer are the most fundamental and often used in an operating system.

Windows 7 offered a generous selection of tools and we’ve come to be used to them by now. Still, it’s safe to say that they are not the most advanced ones and in a way or another are a slight step backwards from what we’ve seen in the past. A relevant example is the removal of the “Up” button in Windows Explorer.

This small feature pretty much sums up all what’s wrong with the file explorer in Windows 7. However, this isn’t the only problem that plagued the explorer. It was very badly designed, featuring a lot of wasted space not to mention that some of the main functions were hidden from the user’s view.

The “Up” button is back in Windows 10. And along with it, there are a series of other improvements in the file explorer. Some of them, however, already arrived in Windows 8, to be perfectly honest. The menu on top is now arranged in form of a ribbon, so the most used commands are within reach and, most important, very easy to find by novice users.

A new “Share” ribbon is now present which will let you move files between different applications such as Skype, Dropbox or Outlook with much ease. While the new file explorer is not perfect, it’s definitely a huge step in the right way.

Microsoft also improved the file copying interface along with these other improvements in the file explorer. Moving and copying tasks are now within a single window for better management. They also included a real time transfer speed monitor and you can also pause file operations, when until now you could only cancel them.

Another great addition is the Storage Spaces. This helps you group multiple hard drives to make a single logical drive. Even though this isn’t exactly revolutionary, the fact that it supports more levels of drive redundancy that will make sure all your data is backed up makes it particularly useful. This feature is entirely how swappable and supports drives in different sizes, unlike RAID systems.

All in all, Windows 10 adds a lot of nifty features in the file management section and takes very little away from it.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – DirectX 12 and gaming

We said earlier that the gaming in Windows 10 hasn’t changed all that much, but now we’ll elaborate a little on the matter.

As a matter of fact, Windows 10 seems to be a tad slower than Windows 7, by about 0.5 percent, especially in some of the older games. Crisis 3, for example seems to run a little slower in Windows 10, however, there are some cases in which the results are reversed. It’s true that 0.5 percent doesn’t mean all that much so it’s not a reason to worry about.

Windows 7 was a very reliable and robust platform for gaming, even though it didn’t have many innovative features. However, it’s still a very good base on which numerous gaming tools have been built.

On the other hand, Windows 10 does add a bunch of new features. However, most of the new features won’t interest PC gamers, such as the option to access your account on Xbox Live, stream games from the Xbox straight to the PC and have a bunch of games that work cross-platform on Xbox and PCs. However, that isn’t to say that they’re not a welcomed addition.

The coolest new feature is probably the game capture one. You can record your gaming sessions and grab a 30 seconds snap shot that you can share with your friends. While this is not new technology, having it built right into the OS is a useful thing. Microsoft also claims that the new feature will work with every game ever made, so this mean that if you want to capture video footage from Monkey Island you can do so.

Windows 10 will also have exclusive access to the new DirectX 12, which claims to unlock performance on all existing hardware by allowing developers to have better access to the hardware’s features. However, the performance boosts are very likely to be small and dependent on certain circumstances. Nevertheless, this will probably be enough to make Windows 10 the better performing system regarding video games.

DirectX 12 will most likely offer numerous other new features but as of now Microsoft hasn’t said anything about what those features will be.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – The Notifications

Windows always featured some sort of notification system in the form of the System Tray. In there you can find pop-up notifications from Dropbox, Spotify, Outlook and any other application that’s open in the background. However, there hasn’t been a proper place in which you could see all your notifications together along with their history.

In Windows 10 you can find a proper notification area. This is a very basic addition that brings app notifications and system messages together in one place, chronologically ordered. While it’s a very tiny addition, it’s extremely useful.

The area of notifications also has some system functions like a feature that lets you switch to the tablet mode or enter the screen settings.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – Workspace

Keeping the workspace neat is very important to some users. While the users with laptops may be happy by making everything run full screen, if you use a desktop computer and have several monitors or just one very big one you will need good workspace management tools to make the best of the space you have.

Windows 7 features multi-monitor support but it’s rather limited in either allowing you to stretch the desktop across different screens or by offering a mirror mode. In Windows 7 you only had one task bar across multiple screens. It also featured a very primitive version of Snap. Snap is a feature that allows you to automatically resize windows when dragged to the sides of the screen. But that’s all that it offered.

In Windows 10, these features have been improved. You can have different backgrounds on different screens now and different slideshows. Pictures can also be set to go across all your screens. The taskbar can also be found on all the monitors you use or just on whichever monitor you’re active in. Snap now supports snapping to all four corners of the screen, instead of just the sides.

But the biggest feature is perhaps the support of a virtual desktop. Even though Windows 7 supported virtual desktops through third-party programs, Windows 10 has this feature built-in. While the implementation is rather clumsy at the moment, it’s still useful, especially for users that have laptops.

Windows 10 vs Windows 7 – The price

Even though we don’t know the exact price of a retail copy of Windows 10 at the moment, the huge news is that it will be free for people who update from Windows 7 or Windows 8 in the first year from its release.

With this in mind, if you have a copy of Windows 7, it would a silly thing not to update. Especially since we don’t know exactly how the upgrade will work, if you’ll lose your license of Windows 7 or not. But the chances are that you will still be able to downgrade to your old Windows version if you find that the new OS just isn’t right for you.

The verdict

Windows 10 offers a lot of useful new functions as well as improvements to the old ones, when compared to the old Windows 7. Even though these functions when taken separately are not reasons enough to upgrade, as a package it’s safe to say that it will be worth it.

In Windows 10 you will get a better file management system, a better windows management system, a better search system, more advanced gaming tools and many more. The only thing we’re not really keen on is the design, but this is hardly a reason to pass up the upgrade.

With Windows 10 being free as an upgrade, it would actually be a stupid thing not to at least try the new operating system. While it probably won’t be perfect, it’s still an upgrade worth getting later this year.

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